I’ll sign on to the under. Could be a slog where Michigan leads most of the way but can’t get too much distance. Better make some FTs.
PSU has some puzzling losses (DePaul and Bradley) but also a victory over a very good VT squad and a close loss at Maryland (they got it to 61-59 with a minute left). Think I’d take the Nitts but don’t like it either way.
Dylan will have to be forcibly removed from Archie Island.
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No Watkins for the former two, Watkins for the latter two.
edit: yes I know Watkins’ statistical impact was small. There’s other ways to help.
Oh, I didn’t realize he was playing again. Makes sense then.
Didn’t mention this in the preview, but it will be interesting to see how Michigan deploys Simpson on defense today… He’ll be giving up a lot of size to any of the Northwestern starters.
Teske reached 30+ minutes in Michigan’s last two games and this feels like another test where the Wolverines will need him on the floor. I suspect Michigan’s small lineup will struggle to contain Pardon down low while Teske has been the best post up defender in the Big Ten through eight games, allowing just 3 points on 15 defensive plays, per Synergy.
I wonder if we will see more Austin Davis than usual in this game, specifically to stick on Pardon. Davis appears to struggle defensively when he has to move his feet and defend in space, but he’s a bigger body that should (I imagine) be able to bang with Pardon down low.
Perhaps… but I’d still worry about him in that matchup. Pardon is pretty skilled down there and can even face up and drive a bit against slower defenders, at least to establish position.
Might have to go to Davis due to foul trouble or something, but I’m not sure as a strategy.
I wonder if JB could test out an all-wing lineup for a short stretch tonight (especially if the game is in hand). Poole, Iggy, Matthews, Livers, Johns. If it’s close, I could see the same thing but with a Teske instead of Johns.
Doesn’t seem like something he would do if the game was out of hand, more likely if Eli, X and Teske are all in foul trouble 
Yeah, my thought was he could maybe buy them a couple minutes at a time, ideally right around a TV timeout or two to buy Teske more minutes of actual rest without missing too much game time.
my bad on the failure at reading comprehension. Any chance Collins goes back to zone tonight? It really caused problems last time in Evanston. I have to believe that they have it in their back pocket as a fail safe.
That was my thought, too, especially with four wings and Pardon, their length could be very problematic. Though sounds like that was more of a product of the players that Collins had last year, @umhoops ?
Dylan notes in the preview that they have played zone on 3 of 537 defensive possessions so far this year… so I highly doubt it. Don’t want to roll out a zone after not having practiced it much (or at all).
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It was something they started doing because they were so bad defensively. Could they try it again? Sure. They haven’t ran it at all this year though.
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Simpson might give up a few inches to Kopp. Turner, and Gaines, but I’d give him a big advantage over any of them. I mean, is Kopp going to post Simpson up?
Interesting side note. Dylan is probably aware of this, but Northwestern has not won a B1G game since that win over Michigan on February 6, 2018. They are 0 for their last 8.
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Yea, kind of same thing we were talking about yesterday. Looks shady , so I assume penn st is the bet here
Just will be interested to see how Michigan uses him. There’s usually a much more natural matchup.
I think on Turner, who appears to be the thinnest and hasn’t been shooting well.